Gautam Gambhir likely to contest Lok Sabha elections on BJP ticket

Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir could soon make his political innings debut. Putting an end to speculation, on Friday, his aides told Dainik Jagran that it is almost certain that the Gambhir will contest Lok Sabha elections from Delhi constituency on BJP ticket. Gambhir has made up his mind for this and now the BJP has to make the final decision.

The former captain of the Delhi Ranji team is very cautious on the issue of nationalism and the army and this time the election will also turn around nationalism. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won all the seven seats of Delhi. BJP sources say that the party is feeling that this time it may have to face anti-incumbency wave in some seats in the capital. In such a situation, they want to wager on the winning candidates. At present, the Supreme Court lawyer Meenakshi Lekhi is the BJP MP from New Delhi seat.

People close to Gambhir said that there is no doubt that “we are in touch with the BJP and the ideology of the Gautam matches this party. The top BJP leaders have talked about it seriously.”

It is known that when Union Minister Arun Jaitley was the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association, then Gautam was captain of the Delhi team. There is a good relationship between the two and Jaitley likes Gambhir very much.

There are seven seats in Delhi, but among them, New Delhi suits the former India opener. Gautam was instrumental in India’s World Cup winning campaigns in T20 (2007) and 50 over format (2011) where his innings in the finals on both occasion laid the foundation for India’s win. He also successfully led Kolkata Knight Riders to two title triumphs in the IPL. The south paw is known to wear his heart on his sleeve and his highly vocal on issues regarding the nation.